Title: Re-inventing Europe: the case of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela as European heritage and the political and economic discourses of cultural unity

Author: J.E. Chemin

Address: Fen ve Edebiyat Fakultesi, Çağ Universitesi, Turkey

Abstract: This paper argues that the enthusiasm for heritage tourism that has developed in Europe in the past three decades is inextricably tied to the political project of the European Union and its drive to create cultural coherence in a multinational, multicultural continent. I explore the ways in which the 'heritage-scape' of Europe, in particular its pilgrimage routes, are portrayed as emblems of European values and culture. I claim that these values are built on selective readings of history and a romantic re-imagining of the past that serve present political and economic ends. Through peripheral pilgrimage sites and routes, messages about cultural unity are disseminated, and the reproduction of an ideal of 'unity in diversity' is brought to centre stage in the politics of the Union. I exemplify this process with a description of the pan-European network of pilgrim routes that now forms the largely re-invented Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.

Abstract: This paper explores the actual and potential museumification of living cultural and religious forms at the Minakshi-Sundareshvara temple complex in Madurai, a major pilgrimage site in the state of Tamil Nadu, south India. It focuses primarily on attempts to sanitise and thus reinvent tradition by removing commerce from within the 17th-century Pudu Mandapam (Tamil, 'new hall'), where it has had a longstanding place. This endeavour is ironically related to larger attempts to produce 'heritage' as a commodity that can be marketed in the context of a growing cultural tourism industry. The finished museum will reconfigure everyday life, transforming the ephemeral into static, ahistorical displays that appeal to foreigners, foreign nationals of Indian ancestry and visitors from other parts of India.

Abstract: Shrine visiting is a prevalent phenomenon throughout Sudan and the Islamic world and deeply entrenched in local traditions. Based on ethnographic research, this paper aims to gain an insight into the intangible aspects of shrine visiting. The article explores the paradoxical popularity of shrine visiting and the tension between popular Islam and orthodox Islam, and examines the continued significance of shrines. The research illustrates shrine visiting is an integral aspect of Suakin's holistic heritage values. Yet, shrines are not protected under Sudanese law. The case study demonstrates the value of what is considered mundane heritage on the maintenance and transmission of cultural heritage and argues that the living religious heritage of shrine visiting needs to be considered as heritage. Furthermore, it suggests that shrines and rituals are central for peoples' religious and cultural identity. Nevertheless, the intangible association with the shrines has been neglected by conservation practices in Sudan and in most of the Islamic world.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to use different perspectives to analyse the impact of a special religious event held in a church that is a world heritage site: La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. First, this study explains the relationship between religion, tourism and heritage. Then, the impact of the event on the coexistence of Christianity and secularism in heritage sites was studied by identifying conflicting groups. The news in the mass media was analysed to identify which individuals and social groups were for or against it, their arguments and capacity for mobilisation. A quantitative study of tourist impact in terms of visitors and image broadcasting (both of Barcelona and of La Sagrada Familia) was then carried out. The results show notable social and tourism-related impacts. For example, the total number of online travel reviews about La Sagrada Familia multiplied six fold the year after the event.

Address: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

Abstract: This paper is about tourism and heritage performance in sacred sites. The pilgrimage city of Varanasi, in Northern India, forms the basis for analysing the multifarious spatial practices, social interactions and cultural performances which often constitute the heritage of religious sites. The central claim of this paper is that heritage is performative; drawing on ethnographic examples, I argue that Varanasi's heritage should be thought of as a 'living heritage' continually restored by the rituals of pilgrims, locals and devotees as much as by the activities of those who come to visit the city. This productive 'messiness' of performative and spatialised encounters activates processes of cultural negotiation and identity formation which underpin the symbolic relevance of this city.

School of Hospitality and Tourism, Auckland University of Technology, 55 Wellesley Street, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

Abstract: This paper proposes a new gaze: the refractive gaze. To provide a contextual framework for it, this paper explores Foucault's (1963) physicians gaze; Urry's (1999) tourist gaze; Maoz's (2006) mutual gaze and Bell's (2005) prescriptive and nervous gazes. We introduce the refractive gaze by examining how tourist-gastronomes negotiate food risk and how this fuels their culinary and cultural capital. The refractive gaze incorporates the subjectively experienced cognitive and sensuous elements that tourist-gastronomes encounter in their quest for 'out of the ordinary' food experiences. Our research is based on secondary case sources that illuminate the articulated theory; in particular, the work of Bell (2010) - who noted how tourist-gastronomes negotiate horse milk consumption in rural Mongolia - which emphasised the internal thought processes followed in deciding to override a fear/risk nexus in order to gain the bragging rights of cultural and culinary capital. Interpretation of Bell's (2010) case material indicates the refractive gaze has potentially broad generalisability vis-à-vis academic understanding of touristic food experience, as well as in areas beyond this domain.

Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of the artisan backpacker in Latin America based upon ethnographic research. We show that Latin American youth have developed their own way of travelling, based upon the existing mainstream Western and Israeli backpacking culture and infrastructure but using their own specific economic activities to finance their travel - selling self-made jewellery. While they share a similar value system, the so-called dominant backpacking 'code of honour', we also identify another value, namely a deeper involvement in the local, often indigenous culture and nature. Similarities could also be discerned between the ideological system of the artisan backpacker and the volunteer backpacker, particularly in terms of the need for risk creation. The lack of sufficient monetary resources shapes the ways in which artisan backpacker's travel. They use different modes of transport and accommodation than other backpackers and they need to plan their days around their economic activities: crafting and selling their jewellery. However, through trading and bargaining, the artisan backpackers are able to improve their international business skills, their English language skills, and their geographical and touristic knowledge. They additionally became more embedded with the local population in order to negotiate their own identity as Latin Americans.